Quote Originally Posted by Terry Tuffnutz View Post
our style of football was unique and different to any of those that these kids had learnt at their clubs. the mid/latter teenage years of development are supposed to be the most crucial which is where all of these players were when they arrived. in many ways they had to re-learn their approach to the game because the possession idea was so different to where they had come from and their raw talent still had to be nurtured. i don't think wenger ever came out to say our youth policy was solely about finding kids from under ten and taking them all the way through.

put it this way - if wenger had got in the right experienced players around them, things would probably have been different and not one of us would be looking back casting doubt on whether this was a 'true' youth policy or not. and let's not think that loyalty is not directly associated with success - only on very rare occasions will a player stick with a team he was raised by through thick and thin until the end of his career.
Rooney was bought by Man U at 17 and he was already some player, I personally think that by the age of 17 you're already well on your way...you can see the real potential....all the top players have shown it, the likes of Messi, Ronaldo etc they may have been inconsistent but the basis of their game was already developed, they just need some games and some, quality experience around them as well.

You could say that in a way our youth policy was flawed as we never provided them with the necessary experienced winners to play alongside (as you already mentioned), which in a sense means we failed them.